Gamco Investors INC. ET AL Reduces Stake in Blue Bird Corporation $BLBD

Gamco Investors INC. ET AL reduced its stake in shares of Blue Bird Corporation (NASDAQ:BLBD) by 35.0% in the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 88,750 shares of the company’s stock after selling 47,735 shares during the quarter. Gamco Investors INC. ET AL’s holdings in Blue Bird were worth $5,108,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of BLBD. PFG Advisors lifted its stake in shares of Blue Bird by 2.6% during the 2nd quarter. PFG Advisors now owns 9,789 shares of the company’s stock valued at $422,000 after buying an additional 246 shares in the last quarter. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH grew its stake in Blue Bird by 0.7% in the 2nd quarter. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH now owns 40,132 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,732,000 after buying an additional 282 shares in the last quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC grew its stake in Blue Bird by 0.7% in the 3rd quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 67,007 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,856,000 after buying an additional 453 shares in the last quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in Blue Bird by 4.1% during the 3rd quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 15,029 shares of the company’s stock valued at $865,000 after acquiring an additional 590 shares during the period. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. bought a new stake in Blue Bird during the 3rd quarter valued at $38,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.59% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on the company. BTIG Research reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $65.00 price target on shares of Blue Bird in a report on Thursday, February 5th. Bank of America boosted their price objective on Blue Bird from $60.00 to $62.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 25th. DA Davidson increased their price objective on Blue Bird from $70.00 to $76.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 25th. Barclays raised their target price on Blue Bird from $50.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 5th. Finally, Zacks Research raised Blue Bird from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, February 5th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating and six have assigned a Buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Blue Bird currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $67.20.

Blue Bird Stock Down 3.1%

Shares of NASDAQ:BLBD opened at $54.74 on Monday. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $53.17 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $53.86. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a current ratio of 1.81 and a quick ratio of 1.21. Blue Bird Corporation has a one year low of $30.04 and a one year high of $62.90. The company has a market cap of $1.73 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.82, a PEG ratio of 2.19 and a beta of 1.40.

Blue Bird (NASDAQ:BLBD) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 4th. The company reported $1.00 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.80 by $0.20. Blue Bird had a net margin of 8.65% and a return on equity of 57.60%. The firm had revenue of $333.08 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $325.74 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.92 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 6.1% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts anticipate that Blue Bird Corporation will post 3.86 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Phil Horlock sold 15,381 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $50.42, for a total transaction of $775,510.02. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 225,385 shares in the company, valued at $11,363,911.70. The trade was a 6.39% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, COO Jeffrey Scott Sanfrey sold 5,192 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $58.54, for a total value of $303,939.68. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer owned 39,011 shares in the company, valued at $2,283,703.94. This represents a 11.75% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold a total of 32,482 shares of company stock worth $1,721,110 over the last ninety days. 1.10% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

About Blue Bird

Blue Bird Corporation (NASDAQ: BLBD) is a leading manufacturer of buses and mass transportation vehicles headquartered in Fort Valley, Georgia. The company’s core business encompasses the design, engineering, and production of school buses and activity buses, with a product lineup that includes conventional (Type C) models, transit-style (Type D) models and specialty configurations for special-needs and activity transport. In recent years, Blue Bird has expanded its offerings to include zero-emission electric school buses, reflecting its commitment to advanced propulsion technologies and environmental sustainability.

Established in 1927, Blue Bird has built a legacy of safety and reliability in student transportation.